Sheet-metal beam



(No Model.)

J. WHITE. SHEET METAL BEAM.

I No. 511,383. Patented Dec. 2 1893.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES WHITE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SHEET-METAL BEAM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 511,383, dated December 26, 1893.

Application filed March 23, 1892. Renewed May 29, l893. Serial No. 475,979. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet- Metal Beams,fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The object of this invention is to facilitate the manufacture of sheet metal arched beams, such as are usedfor filling in floors, and other purposes.

In my construction I form a single or multiplex trough with sides of the gutters nearly or quite vertical so as to present the sheet metal edgewise to the strain upon the beam. With the metal thus disposed, the beam cannot readily be curved by a mere bending operation, and to produce the desired curvature of the beam, I prepare the sheet metal in advance by finely corrugating the same and then forming the gutters transverse to such corrugations. The bending of the metal into the trough produces a straight beam, and such beam is arched by flattening the corrugations upon one side of the beam by suitable means, which operates to extend the top and sides of the beam, and to arch the same as desired. The beam is thus bent or arched by a positive extension of the particles upon its upper side, and is thus far better adapted to resist transverse strains than if it were merely bent by lateral pressure, which would stretch one side of the beam, and would tend rather to diminish than increase the resistance of the metal upon that side. The gutters in the multiplex trough are preferably formed of greater depth than width, to increase the resisting power of the beam when in use.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a cross section of a beam formed with four gutters. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same before it is arched. Fig. 3 is a side view of the beam arched and supported between two I-beams, as in sustaining a floor. These three figures are upon a very small scale. Fig. 4 is a section of a small piece of the sheet metal transverse to the corrugations. Fig. 5 is a side view of a small portion of the beam before it is bent. Fig. 6 is a side view of a similar portion after the corrugations are flattened to extend the top side of the beam. Figs. 4, 5

and 6 show the sheet metal, and the beam, of its natural size; with a section of the flattening tool in Fig. 6. Fig. 7 (in which the beam is drawn one half the scale of Fig. 6) shows a cross section of a beam with two gutters, and the tools employed for flattening the corrugations.

To increase the numberof vertical walls in the beam, side wings are shown extended downward to the bottom of the beam from the sides of the lateral gutters.

a'designates the beam, having the gutters filled with fire proof material 1', as is common in floor structures.

7?. designates the I-beams supportiug the beam 0. in Fig. 3.

1) represents the multiplex trough before it is arched by extending its upper surface.

a designates a cross section of the sheet metal in Fig. 4; corrugations, five or six to the inch, as shown in the drawings, being found suitable for the manufacture of large beams.

cl, in Figs. 5 and 6, designates the parallel ridges upon the corrugated sheet metal, and e the hollows between the same.

In forming a beam, a strip of sheet metal, adapted when bent, to form the desired number of gutters, is first corrugated transversely and then bent by suitable means, as in a cornice brake or press, into a multiplex trough of the desired cross section with the gutters transverse to the corrugations.

The parallel bends formed in the sheet metal are indicated at a, in Fig. 7, and the means shown for arching the beam consists in two opposed tools f and g, which are shown in such figure applied to the sheet metal upon the top side of the beam. The tools are adapted to operate upon only a few of the corrugations at once, and the tool 9 is formed with tongues g to fit between the gutters into contact with the upper bends, and the tool f 5 is provided with notches f adapted to fit the outside of such bends. The tools may be sustained and operated in a small machine adapted to hold the bottom tool stationary, while the upper tool is vibrated or pressed successively toward the lower tool. The beam is then passed longitudinally through the tools thus flattening the ridges d of the corrugations, and spreading the sheet metal running from such ridges downward along the sides of the gutters. Such change in the form of the ridges is plainly indicated at d in Fig. 6, and operates to arch the beam by extending the upper surface or face of the beam and inclining the corrugations to one another along the .sides of the gutters, as indicated upon the op posite sides of the middle ridge in Fig. 6.

It will be seen that by first corrugating sheet metal with fine ridges, the material for the desired extension is previously provided in the ridges d, and the surface of the beam may therefore be extended without stretching the material, or subjecting it to any injurious strain.

It is immaterial what cross section be given to the gutters of the beam, provided the sheet metal be finely corrugated transverse to the gutters, and the ridges flattened after the beam is shaped, to arch it in the desired manner.

With vertical sides for the walls of the gutters, and for the wings of the beam lettered a in Fig. 7, it is obvious that the beam oflfers a greater resistance to transverse strains than if the gutters were made with sloping sides, as in arches made of ordinary corrugated sheet metal.

The essential part of the invention is, the impression of the sheet metal with fine corrugations, before it is bent into the form of gutters, and the subsequent flattening of the ridges d, to extend the upper side of the beam to arch the same.

The transverse corrugations upon the beam permit the extension of the beam upon one side without unduly stretching the substance of the metal, and it is therefore immaterial what means be employed to extend the corrugations upon one side of the beam, as rollers are a well known equivalent for pressing dies, and may be readily used in place of the diesfand g shown in the drawings.

1 am aware that it is not new to make beams of sheet metal in the form of a multiplex trough having gutters of greater depth than width, and I do not therefore claim such a sheet metal beam as my invention.

1 am also aware that corrugated sheet metal has been used in the form of arches with the ridges of the corrugations extended in some cases transversely to the arch and in others longitudinally; but my beam diifers from those heretofore used in having ridges formed in the sheet metal both longitudinally and Having thus set forth the nature of my in vention, what I claim herein is- 1. As a new article of manufacture, the sheet metal beam formed of a trough having the sheet metal finely corrugated transverse to the length of the beam with the ridges of the corrugations flattened upon the upper side of the beam to arch the same, substantially as set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a sheet metal beam formed of a multiplex, trough, and having the sheet metal finely corrugated transverse to the gutters, with the ridges of the corrugations flattened upon the upper side of the beam to arch the same, substantially as set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a sheet metal beam formed of a multiplex trough with gutters of greater depth than width and having vertical sides, the metal being finely corrugated transverse to the gutters, with the ridges of the corrugations flattened upon the upper side of the beam, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES WHITE.

Witnesses:

A. O. KITTREDGE, THOMAS S. CRANE. 

